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The New York Times recently ran an interesting front-page article about Diane McLeod, a Philadelphia woman who is struggling to dig herself out from under a mountain of consumer debt. Her plight is hardly unique. According to the Times, the average household carries credit card debt of $8,565, which is 15 percent higher than in 2000.

Other statistics are equally sobering. The Times reports that “household debt, including mortgages and credit cards, represents 19 percent of household assets, according to the Fed, compared with 13 percent in 1980.”

Sixty-four new potential jurors filed into the room for former Jeffco treasurer Mark Paschall's second kickback trial, but all else was a replay of the February day when Paschall’s first trial began. Paschall was there with defense attorney David Lane, and his family was there to support him. Deputy District Attorneys Tom Jackson and Sean Clifford were there again, hoping this time they can convict Paschall of a second charge against him — compensation for past official behavior.

The older of two brothers on trial in the April 2007 murder of 20-year-old Dylan Newman was convicted July 28 of first-degree felony murder and faces life in prison, while his younger brother was found guilty of a lone charge of reckless manslaughter.

Adam Zamora, 22, also was convicted of reckless manslaughter, aggravated robbery, and possession of marijuana with intent to sell.

His younger brother, Aaron, 20, was found innocent of three other counts and was granted a bond hearing. Aaron faces two to six years in prison on the reckless manslaughter charge.

I work in a presumably green industry. A few months ago there was a giant 45,000-person national trade show all set up for recycling. It’s far too easy to still recall the image of the huge mountains of trash in and around the carefully labeled bins. Recently I started getting “natural” electronic signatures that claim the way to go green is to think twice about printing out an e-mail. Really? Could it be that easy?

When Buffalo Creek resident Vicki Porter got a reverse-911 call July 20 during the Oxyoke Fire notifying her household of a mandatory evacuation, she and her family acted immediately, filling boxes and preparing to flee.

But the family’s panic was short-lived — and unnecessary. Another call came a half-hour later saying that the first was in error: Porter’s home was one of 1,350 households that were wrongly contacted because of a glitch in the notification system.

The Oxyoke Fire 5 miles north of Deckers was 50 percent contained early July 22 thanks to the efforts of 225 firefighters over two days.

More than a dozen homes had been evacuated in the Oxyoke area since the fire was reported Sunday afternoon. The blaze had burned more than 145 acres along County Road 67 and the South Platte River in Jefferson County.

The North Fork and Platte Canyon fire districts were among the departments that responded.

Firefighters were expected to have the blaze 100 percent contained by the end of the day July 22.